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Photography 2:
Progressing with Digital Photography
Written by
Michael Freeman
Registered Office, Open College of the Arts, Michael Young Arts Centre, Unit 1B,
Redbrook Business Park, Wilthorpe Road, Barnsley, S75 1JN, United Kingdom
Michael has also produced a unique series of guide books for the digital
photographer and this is published by ILEX, who are digital media
specialists.
3: Photo-realistic retouching
Brushwork
Project 16: extending an image
Project 17: retouching a face
Project 18: gradient filter
Project 19: focus blur
Shadows
Project 20: adding shadows
Assignment 3: a critical review
4: Degrees of alteration
Enhancing colour
Project 21: a stormy sky
Project 22: an improvement in the weather
Changing shape
Project 23: facial distortion
Project 24: extreme distortion
Surrealist images
Project 25: blending body parts
Assignment 4: a linking theme
Your portfolio
At the end of your course
Appendix A: if you plan to submit your work for
formal assessment
Appendix B: information concerning the proper
use of materials and equipment
Appendix C: OCA colour chart
Further reading
Background
Some of you will already have a background in traditional film photography,
and naturally will want to make comparisons, particularly in image quality.
Others will be coming fresh to photography, un-influenced by experience
with negatives and slides. In either case, it’s important to remember that the
technology of digital cameras is new. It is also evolving.
A photographic revolution
At a mechanical and operational level, there is a lot to learn, but once you
have become familiar with the principles of digital imaging, the techniques
and procedures will quickly fall into place. One of the things I want to stress
in this course is that if you understand the basics - which include pixels, how
a sensor captures an image, and how digital colour works - then the jargon
used by camera manufacturers and software suppliers will become
recognisable, and the apparent brand differences will disappear. Above all,
you need to become completely familiar with the capabilities and limitations
of your digital camera, and appreciate what it is capable of. This will give you
the confidence to get the most out of digital photography.
The CD contains sample digital images that are referred to in the manual, and
which you can copy and use on your own computer. The folders in which
these images lie are organised in the same order as the course and projects.
Digital camera
This should have at least 3 megapixels and the capacity for different focal
lengths (meaning either a fixed zoom lens or an SLR with zoom or wide-angle
to telephoto lenses). The actual range of focal lengths is not particularly
important.
Memory card(s)
One or more cards with sufficient capacity for at least 20 large, highest quality
images (the size of these will depend on your camera).
Camera-computer connection
The means to transfer images from camera to computer - either a connecting
cable (usually USB) or a card reader that plugs into the computer.
Tripod
Used to keep the camera steady during long exposures, or to aid horizontal
panning when creating a panoramic image (to maintain a level horizon).
Windows
• Intel Pentium processor
• Microsoft Windows 98, Windows 98 SE, Windows ME, Windows 2000
or Windows XP
• 64 MB of RAM
• 125 MB of available hard disk space
• colour monitor with video card supporting 16.7 million colours (that is,
8 bits per channel, which is 24 bits in total)
• monitor resolution of 800 x 600 or greater
• CD-ROM drive (and CD-R writer, otherwise a separate unit - see
below).
Macintosh
• PowerPC processor
• Mac OS software versions 8.5 or later (including OS 9 and OS X)
• 64 MB of RAM
• 125 MB of available hard disk space
• colour monitor supporting 16.7 million colours (that is, 8 bits per
channel, which is 24 bits in total)
• monitor resolution of 800 x 600 or greater
• CD-ROM drive (and CD-R writer, otherwise a separate unit - see
below).
A CD writer
Either built-in or separate, with the appropriate software.
This art object has been gilded and painted, and the gold reflections make it
very contrasty under the single studio light. Not only that, but the intention of
the artist, Yukako Shibata, is to exploit the reflected light from the shadowed
area underneath. Hence it is important to preserve the entire tonal range. One
image has been taken with an exposure that preserves the highlights but
leaves the shadows too dark. The second preserves shadows but loses
highlights. We can combine the best parts of each.
Now find a situation for photographing that has a too-high range of contrast.
It could be, for instance, an interior in daylight, with a view through an open
window. Take 2 exposures. One should look right for the shadow areas, the
other should hold the highlights (no clipping warning in the camera’s LCD).
Use a tripod to keep the shots identically framed. Then, in Photoshop,
combine them in the way described above. Experiment with degrees of size,
opacity and softness for the Eraser Tool.
CadburyCastle_1 CadburyCastle_2
CadburyCastle-final
Now find, an outdoor scene that you can photograph under 2 different kinds
of lighting. It could be sunlit and cloudy as in the example above, or daylit
and night-time lighting. Do the equivalent of the procedure just described.
When you have finished, flatten the image (that is, reduce 2 layers to one).
Selection
Central to image editing, and often the first step after making simple global
corrections, is selecting the area that you are going to manipulate. The 2 most
valuable in Photoshop Elements are the Magic Wand Tool and the Selection
Brush Tool. You should familiarise yourself with these before continuing.
You can use the 2 together, for instance by beginning with the Magic Wand
Tool, then fine-tuning the edges at 100% magnification with a small Selection
Brush Tool. Remember that the size of the brush is variable, as is the hardness
or softness of its edge, and what you choose depends on the subject. If you are
using the Magic Wand Tool, the Tolerance determines how widely the tool
searches for similar pixels. Always keep Anti-aliased ticked – this reduces
jagged steps along diagonal edges of a selection.
The danger here is that you may pick up areas that you do not want, and in a
large image file you may not notice without a close, zoomed-in inspection.